JAMES TUOZZO


My VRML Project

Before you run this simulation:

To run my VR project click on the link above. But, read this page before you run my project.

Important features:

Before you walk around in the my simulated town, there are a few things I would like to point out. There are six different viewpoints which I have created. Using the Cortona VRML client there is a button on the task bar with allows you to select different viewpoints. If you are using a different VRML viewer try right clicking with your mouse to bring up available simulation options, such as viewpoints, headlights, speed, etc. I have added a seventh viewpoint upon your request. This viewpoint is called "Unnamed_1" and it is the point of view from the moving car in my simulation. This is a very important view, so make sure you use this viewpoint. Also, if you use the viewpoints house1, house2, or house3 make sure you right click and select the "headlight" option otherwise it will be kind of dark inside the rooms.

A few other pretty cool implementations I would like you to check out are the doors to the houses which are capable of opening and closing. There are light switches in the some of the houses which turn on/off the lights. Also there is a red heart in the backyard of one of the houses which when clicked on will teleport the user to another part of the virtual town.

Virtual mapping:

Using VRML I built a virtual town, including realistic houses, streets, traveling cars, etc. The explorer(user) can walk around the town, just as if he was actually there. The results of this part of my project are of important use to colleges and universities that would like to give a virtual tour of their campus online. I have demonstrated in my project the main architecture behind a virtual map of a simple town. In this town I have simulated the path of a car from a theoretical (point a) to (b) in the town. The next generation of online maps will be virtual online maps, in which the user can see a virtual depiction of the path or paths to reach a given destination. Companies and businesses will find a virtual map very useful in guiding clients to their facilities. Bus routes can be mapped in a virtual world to determine the efficiency of the route, or just for simple public viewing. I have also included in my simulation the ability of the user to teleport to and from certain locations in the town. (for this task I demonstrated the use of Web linking). The implementation of this teleport feature will make it easy for a user to move to and from larger sections of the created scene.

Summary of Implemented Features:

  • Town is explorable by walking around it.
  • Implemented house architecture and style.
  • Three similar house styles.
  • Houses and trees produced from primitives.
  • Seven different viewpoints.
  • Different light sources (overall directional light and interactive house lighting).
  • Inlining of library files.
  • Animation of a Car traveling the streets of the town.
  • included viewpoint from the moving car. (as requested by Chansu Lee)
  • Transformations (most of the project's construction).
  • Animation of position and color (house lights, traveling car and flying viewpoint).
  • Interaction (house doors and light switches).
  • Web linking (used in the implementation of the teleport).
  • Use of an indexed face set to produce the roof tops of the houses.
  • Texture mapping of the three roofs of the houses.
  • Three levels of detail implemented for each of the three houses (total of nine houses).
  • Use of transparency for the windows of the houses.